The Long and Tormented Genesis of the Lil Wayne Documentary The Carter

In this week's Voice, Jed Lipinski tells the long and involved story behind the making, and then spiking, of The Carter, thirty-year-old director Adam Bhala Lough's verite documentary depicting Lil Wayne's 2008 U.S. and European tour. The DVD finally comes out next week, with a disclaimer calling Wayne a "true American artist" and indicating that the film no longer has the rapper's support. Why? Young Money had sued over undisclosed scenes in the film. "Although it is never explicitly stated," Lipinski writes, "one can assume the scenes in question involve Wayne sipping and discoursing on prescription-strength cough syrup. At one point, he withdraws a large Vitamin Water bottle full of 'sizzurp' from his Louis Vuitton suitcase--'Vitamin Water ain't that thick,' he wheezes. Throughout the film, he's shown mixing it with Voss and A&W Root Beer, and drinking the concoction from a double-, sometimes triple-stacked Styrofoam cup." More on this story over here.